“I know this may be upsetting,” Grace went on. “It warms my heart to know that you both feel an attachment to it. That does more for me than you realize.” She pressed her lips together for a moment, gathering herself. “It was always our intention to pass the store along to Graham when we got to this age, to make it a family legacy.”

Charlie reached out and grabbed Grace’s hand when her voice caught.

“But that wasn’t meant to be,” she said softly. “And who knows? Maybe Graham would’ve wanted to make his own path. We’ll never know. Lord knows I could never make him a bookworm. He had a stubborn streak a mile long. But seeing you both here today, how you’re reacting, makes me feel at peace with what we’re going to ask of you.”

“I don’t understand,” Ash said.

Grace sat up straighter, her elegant demeanor making her look ten years younger. “We’re going to sell the business, and we need both of you to help us do that.”

“What do you mean?” Kincaid asked.

Charlie cleared his throat, a great rumble of a noise. “I hate to say it, but the store isn’t what it used to be. We haven’t been able to keep it up as well as we would like. We’ve only been opening four days a week lately, and sales haven’t been great. But that’s our fault, not the store’s. We need to sell it, but it breaks my heart—no pun intended,” he said with a wink and a gentle tap to his chest, “to think of it becoming another type of business and the town losing its only bookstore. I want to sell it to someone who wants to keep it as a bookstore.”

“Charlie, that’s…” Kincaid started but let her words trail off.

Ash could fill in for her. Difficult. Challenging. Nearly impossible.

“It needs to be attractive to buyers to get top dollar,” Charlie continued. “Cleaned out. Modernized a little. It needs some of its charm back.”

“Right,” Grace said. “And you two know that store almost as well as we do, which is where you come in. We know you’re both busy and it’s a lot to ask, but it seems serendipitous to have Ash in town for a while, like this was how it was supposed to be. Even though I’m sorry it was a breakup that brought you back here, Ash.”

Kincaid turned her head his way, and he cringed inwardly.

“But we would love it if you two could help us get it looking as pretty as a picture again,” Grace continued. “Then once it’s ready, Kincaid, if you could use your real-estate skills to get us a good sale, that would be a tremendous help.”

“Of course,” Kincaid said, still looking taken aback. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do. I don’t want the town to lose the store.”

“Ash?” Grace’s gaze flicked to him.

“Absolutely,” Ash said without hesitation, even though it felt as though he was stumbling drunk along the edge of some cliff. “Whatever you need.”